The H-2A program allows farm employers to be certified by DOL to fill seasonal farm jobs with H-2A guest workers if they are unable to recruit sufficient US workers at the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR). Fewer than 100,000 jobs a year were certified until 2013; since then, the number of jobs certified to be filled by H-2A workers almost quadrupled to 378,000 in FY23.
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The H-2A and H-2B programs admit foreign guest workers to fill seasonal farm and nonfarm jobs, respectively. The H-2 program was created in 1952 by the Immigration and Nationality Act (Public Law 82-414) and modified in 1986 into the H-2A and H-2B programs by the Immigration Reform and Control Act (Public Law 99-603). Employers must receive certification from DOL to employ H-2A and H-2B workers, who are tied to their US employers by contracts.
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Between January 2021 and January 2024, CBP had more than six million encounters with unauthorized migrants on the Mexico-US border. Another two million migrants were detected entering the US but were not apprehended.
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Census of Agriculture data released in February 2024 found that US farm sales were $543 billion in 2022, including $280 billion or 52 percent from the sale of crops and $260 billion from the sale of animal commodities. The largest 105,000 farms that each had farm sales of $1 million or more accounted for 80 percent of US farm sales in 2022.
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California agriculture employed an average 413,000 workers between 2018 and 2021. Farm employers reported an average 882,000 unique workers a year, a ratio of 2.1 workers for each year-round equivalent job; an FTE job is created when three workers are each employed for four months. There are several reasons for the 2-1 ratio of workers to jobs, including seasonal peaks in farm employment and worker turnover, as when someone tries farm work for a few days or weeks and moves on to other jobs.
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The US Department of Labor (DOL) certified 378,000 seasonal farm jobs to be filled by H-2A workers in FY23, up two percent from 372,000 in FY22. DOL received almost 21,000 applications from about 13,000 unique employers, reflecting the fact that some farm employers file multiple applications. The average number of jobs certified per application was 20.
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Five million Mexican-born farm workers are employed on North American farms sometime during a typical year, including 50,000 in Canada, three million in Mexico, and two million in the US. Most Mexican-born farm workers were raised in rural Mexico.
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Many small island nations offer golden passports that grant citizenship in exchange for donations or investments of $100,000 to $1 million. Many industrial countries including the US offer investors golden visas in exchange for investments that allow residence and can lead naturalization.
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The US foreign-born population was a record 50 million at the end of 2023, 15 percent of US residents and including an estimated 12 million unauthorized foreigners.
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World wine production exceeds wine consumption, putting downward pressure on wine prices. Global wine production was 258 million hectoliters or 6.9 billion gallons in 2022, while global wine consumption was 232 million hectoliters or 6.2 billion gallons (one hectoliter is 26.4 gallons).
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